The Life and Times of a Grizzly Ad!

Written by William /"Wild Bill/" Montgomery

Continued from page 1

or 3) They have absolutely no opinion at all. These are most important readers. The others have already opted to continue or abort. These people remember you but you have not drawn a strong enough opinion to pull them through third stage. This requires you to re-assess your ad. You "ARE" catching their attention, but you have not gained their complete interest. Go back. See what catches their attention and what comes off as weak link of your message. Try again.

Now (assuming they reacted positively) your reader is in last stage of process. They are required to take action. Yes, I'll go with your product. No, I don't think so at this time.

"This Time".

For Web Site owners; If at all possible, leave two major impressions with your now potential buyer when they reach your page(s). First, make it clear that if they go with you today, there is an extra incentive to do so. Secondly, if they can't decide today, make it clear that you want to see them again. That's called "Invitation and Follow-Up". Just a note to wise. Make these impressions (Incentive & Invitation) apart from one another, not together.

Your potential customer now decides to take that final step of action. It all come down to this:

1) They buy your product, try your product, or ask for more information. But no matter what, your potential customer is now a legitimate sale or lead.

2) They have now decided against you. Website owners, don't forget about that second impression (Invitation & Follow-Up). Not now doesn't always mean forever.

Advertising Is Dead! Viva le SEO!

Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of this device. C P Scott, 1936

Television won't last because people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox co-founder, 1946

But TV finally fell to advertising and is now fully one-third ads and very little content, except for product placement and sponsored content.

But because advertising ruled our lives when internet was launched in 1995, we just naturally assumed that advertising would rule online as well. But we got it wrong. I spend hours online daily and do all I can to ignore flashing, blinking banners and skyscraper ads and sponsored links glaring from top, bottom and now edges, of screen in front of me.

How do people behave online? Simple, they search. They search for things they have an interest in. They bookmark favorites. Most don't know why they get results they do when searching.

It's because top ranking sites in search results are very specifically designed by people who know how to gain those top rankings in search engines. Why on earth would anyone spend good money on advertising when most web surfers seek to avoid advertising and even buy software meant to block advertising from their web pages? Why on earth don't more businesses see that search engine positioning is number one solution to visibility and success online?

Here comes another funeral march. They probably bought Super Bowl ads and have banners flashing all over my favorite web site. Oh and look! They have banner ads on hearse! I guess they didn't want to waste eyeballs attending funeral. At least they aren't animated banners. Have a little respect!

Mike Valentine does Search Engine Placement for the Small Business http://website101.com/Search_Engine_Positioning WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet http://website101.com/arch/